Data logging oven temperature

Toast

A cheap form of data logging:

The dual channel THE-343 digital thermometer is cheap ($29) and accurate.  Comes with two sets of probes but wiring covering is not heat proof.  Bought a pair of heat proof K-type thermocouples from Homedepot online for less than $3.

Alligator clipped one wire to the rack and sticking up about 2" above my large baking stone at its left edge, three inches away from the oven sidewall and the other probe on the right.  Balanced the unit on top of the range (no magnet or clip) during the preheat and the bake.

Then what I did was take a smartphone picture of the readout from time to time.  The pictures are always time-stamped so I manually entered the left and right temperatures over time into a spreadsheet and graphed it.  If you want a more automatic data capture you can buy a $200 data logger from Thermoworks; comes with software but no probes.  But what I discovered about my oven was a surprise to me.  Go find out about your own ovens.

And what did you learn about your own oven?

Digital thermometers can be sensitive to the ambient temperature. I don't know for sure about your unit, but I'd be a little concerned for its calibration on top of the stove, where it might get fairly warm during preheat and baking.

TomP

Unfortunately this sort of testing tends to propogate the myth that the temperature of the air inside the oven is the most important factor. IMO you can learn more with an infrared heat gun.

I agree. And even with the IR, the readings aren't really what the actual loaves are seeing.  Heat capacity, thermal recovery time, and IR reflectivity, seem to play large roles in actual baking performance.